Looks like swimming’s most photogenic male swimmer, Chris DeJong, wasn’t enjoying life in the retirement home.

Just a short (or long, depending on who you ask) year ago, Chris competed in the Day 1 prelims of the Eric Namesnik grand prix. Shortly after that session, he withdrew from the meet and disappeared from the sport. As the summer of ‘06 wore on, we began to fear that we’d seen the last of The Asian. We asked PVK what was going on (because we were too pussy to ask for ourselves) and he told us that CDJ was “unofficially retired”.

This revelation lead to many tear-filled Swim Aid nights, because can’t nobody strike a pose on the pool deck like The Asian!

At Nationals, the name ‘Chris DeJong‘ turned up on the psych sheet. But we knew better. A quick text to PVK confirmed our prediction that he was indeed not competiting. Luckily we didn’t get our hopes up too much!

In the fall, The Asian started turning up on the pool deck, but not in a competition Speedo. He was keeping stats for the UM team. Better than nothing, but still not like old times.

So imagine our surprise when his name popped up on the Eric Namesnik Memorial grand prix psych sheet. Is our celebration premature? We hope not!

We’ll see for ourselves this weekend!

P.S. Don’t ask us to explain why we call Chris DeJong “The Asian”. If you don’t know, you betta ask somebody…ELSE

ETA: MGoBlue is adding more fuel to the fire! I hope, for their sake that they are not yanking our chains, ladies! Check out the latest release:

Current Wolverines who will participate in the event include 2007 NCAA 400-meter individual medley national champion Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) and 10-time All-American Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter). Vanderkaay will be joined by his brother, 2004 Olympic gold medalist and five-time NCAA champion Peter Vanderkaay (2003-06), and other former U-M stars, including three-time NCAA champion Davis Tarwater (2003-06) and five-time All-American Chris DeJong (2003-06). Club Wolverine members Erik Vendt, Kaitlin Sandeno, Hayley Peirsol and Kalyn Keller will also be competing at the event.

Top 10 signs you spend entirely too much time in Ann Arbor, MI at swim meets

10. Whenever you tell people you’re going out of town, they automatically assume you’re going to Ann Arbor

9. You measure distance to other places in Ann Arbor by how far they are from Canham pool

8. You go to Meijer to play, but still know where all the things you need are located in the store

7. You have nicknames for the pool and its various corridors

6. You can pinpoint the exact spot on the highway where the temperature drops, thus alerting you that Ann Arbor is near

5. People start coming to you for advice on where to stay and what to do while in Ann Arbor

4. You can’t drive past Dewey St without cracking up

3. You know your way around the mall as if it was your regular mall at home

2. If you’re from Ohio, you make sure to bring your own Mich. gear to leave in plain sight in your car, so people can see that not everyone that lives in Ohio is a Buckeye fan (ew)

1. Your car could fill itself up with the necessary amount gas and then drive itself to Ann Arbor and back without any help from you.

So, in light of our dear Kletus leaving the midwest, I thought I’d resurrect this classic Swim Aid video. I honestly don’t think we can ever get enough of this video. No, seriously.

Now remember, you must turn up/on your speakers when viewing this. When I showed PVK this video a few months back, he didn’t “get it” because the big goof didn’t have his sound on. Please don’t make the same mistake he did. Enjoy this tribute properly and responsibly!

Okay, first he’s called “crack” and then they mess up his training city?  What the hell is wrong with Spanish journalists? 

Baltimore’s “crack” will travel to Europe at the beginning of July to take part in the first of the three competitions of Mare Nostrum: Canet Roussillon (June 9-10).Then, Michael Phelps will travel to Barcelona to take part in the Spanish competition.

Before returning to Atlanta, where he currently practices under orders of coach Bob Bowman, the American swimmer will finish the Mare Nostrum Tour participating in the International Swimming Meeting (June 16-17), in Monaco.

A few short months ago, Kalyn Keller left USC and Dave Salo to train with her older bro at Club Wolverine. Now, Big Daddy Keller has decided to go back to USC himself and train under Salo.

This move saddens the Swim Aids. We grew very accustomed to seeing our dear Kletus rocking that ugly CW cap on a regular basis. It brings back fond memories. We cherished the opportunity to see Klete-esque activities like playing with his fat rolls and applying excessive amounts of sunscreen. Does anyone remember the man-UGGs from World Cup last year, or him almost missing his race at the last ever US Open? We do!

The Detroit Free Press indicated that Klete probably needed a change in addition to wanting to finish his degree. And if this move will rejuvenate him and super-charge his swimming efforts, then by all means, have a safe trip, Klete! Don’t forget to write!

So, is there a 1 sibling per club rule going on? Maybe that’s the REAL reason CDJ retired? And if that’s the case, can someone please pass this memo along to the Vanderkaay’s? They are 1 over quota at present time.

kthanx.

AP Photo by Mark Baker

Around here, we make it no secret that the men’s 800 Free Relay is our favorite out of all of the relays. It isn’t exactly rocket science as to why, now is it? We are quite fond of the members of the relay and constantly excited by their dominance in the event ever since that amazing race in Athens! Big Daddy Keller did the damn thing, and touched out Thorpey. So the relay team remained the same and the boys were salivating at the thought of bringing the WR home, where it belongs!

At the 2007 World Champs, the boys were below WR pace the entire time! Mike got it going with a blazing 1:45.36 leg. Next in the water was the Lochtenator (and no, he wasn’t sporting a grill). He, too, continued the pace set by MP with his 1:45.86 200. Next was Big Daddy Keller. I have to say that I was sooo glad to see his name on the entry list. There had been much speculation as ot whether or not he’d be replaced for this race. Kletus, himself, even suggested that he should not swim. As rough a meet as he may have had, there was no one else on the Team USA roster who can represent with the 800 FR like Klete. I knew he’d step up for this race, and he did. The team stayed well below the Aussie World Record during his leg. Last, but certinaly not least, PVK tried out the anchor slot for the first time ever. But even as the “Thorpe WR Line” attempted to chase him down, he kept his pace. Thorpey may have caught the team at Pan Pacs, but not this time! PVK wasn’t trying to hear none of that! He swam a lifetime best split of 1:45.71 and sealed the World Record for Team USA. Then, after realizing that they finally took down the WR they’d be after for years, the boys celebrated! (See above picture) I’ve never seen anyone get out of the pool, after a race, faster than Pete did! It’s always nice to see displays of emotion out of the male swimmers!

It was about been 6AM here, because I was watching live, but still I couldn’t muffle the frequent “OH SHIT!” exclamations and related expletives that kept trickling out of my mouth!

What a race!

P.S. LOL @ Klete being the only one wearing the old Fastskin and not the FS-PRO suit during this race.

It’s not what you think, so get your minds out of the gutter!

If you take a look through the Media Guide for the WOrld Championships team, you’ll find an interesting little ditty under Pete’s bio. He has a pet hermit crab named Ditka.

Upon discovering this, I laughed for 5 minutes. Actually, it was more like 30. Then I had to find out why on earth he had a pet hermit crab because “I was unaware that people older than 12 years old had hermit crabs for pets”.

Pete’s reply was simply:

Don’t hate.

So no, he did not shed any light on the subject. He was probably embarassed, as any grown man with a pet hermit crab should be. In any case, my hat goes off to my favorite Vanderkaay. He takes my frequent ribbings like a champ, no matter where he is. In this case, he was down under for Worlds. And let’s be real. That email probably made his day; just like all of mine do.

Now if he could only come up with a decent comeback for when I make fun of him…